Frequently asked questions – Australia 2016

This guide includes a lot of content and I regularly get asked questions about how it is structured and why I make decisions about what information is included.

Please also post here any questions about the structure of the guide or suggestions about improvements.

Which candidates or parties get featured in your maps and tables?

Each profile includes a table showing results of the last election – all candidates are included in this table.

I also include a table breaking down each electorate into smaller geographic areas. For this table I usually include the two-party-preferred (2PP) figure for the party that won the electorate. The nature of this figure means that you can also derive the two-party-preferred figure for the candidate who came second.

There are rare cases where the 2PP figure is not useful, and instead I substitute primary votes for the top two candidates in the electorate.

I then usually include the third-polling candidate’s primary votes. Where a fourth candidate polled strongly, I can include that candidate too.

In most cases this means that I include either the ALP or Liberal 2PP, and the Greens primary vote, but in seats where the Greens did not come third, or another candidate polled strongly, they are included.

As far as maps, again I usually use a two-party-preferred map. Because of this, I don’t include primary vote maps for the top two polling candidates. My general rule has been that candidates who don’t come in the top two get a map included if they have polled over 10%. These candidates are mostly Greens and Palmer United candidates. In a few cases where the first-ranked candidate is far ahead and the second and third candidates are close together, I will instead post primary vote maps for the top three candidates.

What does a candidate have to do to get included on a local electorate profile?

Until the official declaration of nominations in June, there is no official list of declared candidates in a seat. The lists featured on this blog are compiled from numerous sources, including party websites, comments on this blog, news stories and web searches.

I don’t try and claim that it is a complete and final list. Candidates for small parties and independent candidates can be missed, and major parties are still preselecting for some seats until quite late in the campaign.

Moreover, I’m not making it my job to seek out local news stories and websites of small political parties to ensure every candidate is located.

If a candidate is missing, you can post their name in the comments section on that page, and I will add them to the list. This can take up to a week before I have a chance to make an update.

Once the official candidate lists have been announced, the official lists will be posted in ballot order, and no further updates will be made to the preliminary candidate information.

Which candidates will be featured on your Senate profiles?

There are many, many candidates who will be running for the Senate without any public campaign or profile. In the case of major parties, only the first six have a chance of winning a seat. The Nick Xenophon Team have a chance of winning four seats in South Australia, and the Greens have a shot at two seats in most states. In almost all other cases, only the first candidate has a chance.

In the cases of the Liberal Party (or Liberal/National joint tickets) and the ALP, I will be posting the list of the top six candidates. For the Nick Xenophon Team in South Australia, I will be posting the list of the top four candidates. For the Greens, I will post the top two in each state. For all other parties, only the lead candidate will be featured. This will also apply to the official candidate lists released in June.

Why do only some candidates have links?

I will link to a candidate’s personal website, a profile on their party’s website, or a Facebook page. I won’t link to a Twitter account, or to a generic page that profiles or lists more than one candidate.

I have been prioritising collecting the names of candidates over finding links to their web pages. If a candidate has an appropriate webpage but no link under their name, please post the link and I will update the page.

What is the difference between two-party-preferred and two-candidate-preferred?

In Australia’s preferential voting system, the count is continued until only two candidates remain in the race. The votes that these two candidates have built up in this final round is called the “two-candidate-preferred” vote (2CP). Since there are only two candidates at this point, you can derive the other candidate’s 2CP vote by subtracting one candidate’s vote from 100.

The “two-party-preferred” vote (2PP) is the final vote between the Labor candidate and the Coalition candidate. In most cases, the 2PP and 2CP vote is the same – in cases where one of the final two candidates is not Labor or Coalition, a separate count is conducted to determine the 2PP vote.

In most cases, the 2PP vote has been used, but in seats where an independent or minor party candidate comes in the top two, the 2CP vote has been used.

How do I get in touch?

If you have a correction or an update for a single electorate page, feel free to post a comment. You can also send us an email by using this form.

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